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ABI pension guide

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Created on Monday, 25 April 2016 14:50

The ABI (Association of British Insurers) have, in partnership with the Government, consumer groups and financial experts, produced a guide to pensions. The guide aims to ‘improve consumer understanding’ following the recent pensions overhaul.

When we heard about their plans we contacted them to see if we could be of any help. They responded that the draft guide was finished but that our feedback would be greatly appreciated – so here it is.

The guide is a very good document. It doesn’t cover everything but is a useful and easy-to-understand basic guide to pension terms.

The guide doesn’t answer a lot of questions we still have about pensions. But it’s unquestionably a very worthwhile resource for those unsure about the recent changes to pensions. The guide should also clear up a lot of confusion about the different pension choices now available.

As the ABI said: “The new guide aims to make pensions language simple, clear and consistent in order to help customers better understand their options at retirement.”

“Many people find the new retirement choices confusing, and across the long term savings sector, different terms are used to describe options. This guide aims to standardise the language used to describe options so customers can understand and compare products more easily without having to decipher technical terms.”

Perhaps the ABI can extend the guide to answer some of those outstanding questions. For example, why is a pension taxable if you die after 75 but not before? To deal with such issues would take a lot of time, but by doing so the ABI would turn a very useful guide into an essential one.